


Unsettled

by JayceCarter



Series: 30 Day OTP Challenge Thane/Female Shepard [3]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Jealousy, admitting feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 22:52:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14199378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayceCarter/pseuds/JayceCarter
Summary: Garrus and Shepard recount a story that leaves Thane feeling a bit more possessive than he expects.





	Unsettled

**Author's Note:**

> OTP Day 3: First time (I went with kiss, lol)

Shepard sat beside Garrus, her shoulder against his, laughing.

 

Thane held his own drink in hand, head tilted down to hide the way he watched the two.

 

Garrus would throw his arm over her, pull her tight to his side, and she only smiled in return. She would joke, and he would beam. He would jest, and she would draw nearer.

 

Thane found the entire display. . . unsettling.

 

And how unfair was that? He'd resisted any advance she’d made, keeping whatever they had platonic. How then could he find such annoyance in her touching the turian, in their obvious bond?

 

Garrus was a good male, from what Thane had seen. Apt with his sniper rifle, someone determined to uphold justice. More gregarious than Thane, but that was not uncommon.

 

Shepard and Garrus held a shared history, a connection, a humor. In many ways, they fit in a way she and Thane did not.

 

Perhaps that was the real feeling. Jealousy.

 

Garrus was a man that Thane could never be. He would not die in the near future, at least not from illness. He had an ease in social situations Thane lacked. He would make for a good partner for Shepard, and even that thought made Thane's hands twitch.

 

"And then I hard to carry her back to her room." Garrus braced his elbow on the table as he told the story to Jack and Joker.

 

"He is a liar. I've never drunk so much that I had to be carried back to my room."

 

"She just doesn't remember. I put her over my shoulder after she tried to take that shot of drell toxin. I warned her it causes hallucinations, but she swore that if she could handle boot camp, she could handle anything."

 

Thane lifted an eyebrow at that. The toxin on his skin, on the skin of all drell, did cause hallucinations in humans, often of the carnal nature. Repeated exposure would reduce the effects, and in general sexual encounters, it was quite mild. The sort they offered in bars was often concentrated.

 

Still, it caused him to picture Shepard, her tongue licking the substance directly from his skin, of the way her skin would flush as it worked into her system.

 

"I don't know who you're thinking about, Garrus, but it wasn't me."

 

He chuckled before taking a drink. "Oh, Shepard, I won't ever forget that. See, drell toxin affects humans in a special way, and it left her offering herself up to about anyone we passed. She broke hearts the whole way through the Citadel."

 

Jack laughed, her feet on the table. "Prim and proper Commander Shepard was looking for an easy fuck? Never thought I'd see the day."

 

Red covered Shepard’s cheeks, and she shoved Garrus's shoulder. "Thanks, because everyone needed that story."

 

"What? Just trying to humanize you a bit for the crew. Besides, we haven't even gotten to the good part when I got you back to your room."

 

With that, Thane stood. While he had discipline, the idea of sitting and listening to how Garrus had serviced Shepard tempted the line of his self-control. "I am going to retire for the evening."

 

"Already? It's early still," Garrus said.

 

Thane bit back and snide comment perched on his tongue. "I find I tire easily. Meditation and prayer will help. Have a nice evening." Shepard's frown called him a liar as he left.

 

 

#

 

 

An hour later, Thane sat at the table in his quarters, his elbows on top of it, hands folded together. He'd tried to focus on his prayers, but the sight of Shepard and Garrus kept returning to him.

 

The door opened, but he didn't turn to see who walked in.

 

Only one person walked into his quarters without knocking.

 

Shepard walked up beside him, then turned and sat on the table, her legs dangling over the edge next to him. "You ran out of there so fast, didn't get a chance to say goodnight."

 

"You seemed otherwise occupied. I didn't think you'd notice." He twisted to look up at her even though her eyes always softened him.

 

"Is this jealousy?" She lifted an eyebrow as if the idea amused her.

 

He found it less amusing.

 

"No. To be jealous, there would need to be something romantic between us. There isn't. You are free to hang off of whoever you would like to."

 

Her legs swung as she sat on the table, her hands behind her. "You might be wise about a lot of things, but it doesn't seem like you know much about jealousy. You can't really be worried about Garrus and me."

 

"Again, for me to be worried-"

 

"-Yes, I know, there would have to be something between us. I think you know very well there is. Even though you try to push me away, even though you keep trying to act like there's nothing here, I can read between the lines."

 

He tore his gaze away. "There are no lines, Shepard. If you wish to ingest drell toxin and have sex with Garrus, it is no business of mine."

 

"That why you've got your hands gripped like that?" She nodded down at his folded hands.

 

Thane sighed and unlaced his fingers, the joints aching as he did so, proving her point. "So, perhaps I don't care for the idea of you acting so irresponsibly. What if Garrus had not been there? Someone could have taken advantage. Well, someone other than him."

 

Her lips tilted up when he spoke the last part, voice quiet. She slid over and spread her legs around him, so she sat on the table just in front of him, her feet on the tops of his thighs. "So this is just professional concern about the safety of your Commander, hmm?"

 

His hands wrapped around her calves, drawn to the touch without considering it. "Yes. That's all."

 

"So, if I wanted to get a little of that toxin from you, and go for another shot with Garrus, as long as I was safe, you'd be good with that?" The challenge in her voice was clear, the bait.

 

His hands tightened around her calves as he stared up into her face, trying to meet the challenge, the dare. "As long as you were safe, yes."

 

"Well, it's good I know where Garrus stays, isn't it?" She went to pull away, to sling that leg over him and hop off the table.

 

Instead, he stood, moving between her legs. He grasped the back of her neck so she stared up at him. "Perhaps I find the idea of you with him unappealing."

 

"Perhaps?" Her voice mocked him even as she tightened her thighs around his hips. "I think we're a little beyond perhaps."

 

"You will not let this go, will you?"

 

"Nope. I'm stubborn as they come, and you've been running away from this for too long. I've finally got you cornered. I expect you to admit it."

 

"Admit what?" He leaned closer until each word caused his lips to brush hers.

 

"Admit that you want me, that this isn't just friends, that there's something more."

 

"Maybe that's true."

 

Her hand moved over his arm, up to his shoulder. "You like to downplay this, but you're the one storming out of parties because of a little story."

 

"I didn't need to hear the rest of the story."

 

"Yeah, you did. Nothing happened, Thane. Garrus threw my ass in a cold shower and then made sure I didn't go anywhere until I sobered up. I learned my lesson and have no plans on trying drell toxin again."

 

He released a heavy breath, his forehead coming to rest against hers. "I am relieved. I wouldn't have blamed you, but I am glad to know that never happened between you two."

 

"Well, I didn't say never."

 

He pulled back as he pulled in a breath, only to find her grinning.

 

Leave it to Shepard to sneak past his guards, his walls, to break through anything he tried to set up. Her humor, the way she never gave in, it always won.

 

And it always would. No matter how he might try to save her from the pain a relationship with him would bring, she would never back down from it.

 

So he gave up trying.

 

He used the grip on her neck to pull her closer and indulge in the kiss he’d avoided thus far. They moved over that line, shifted from friends to something more.

 

Her lips were softer than his, softer than he was used to. They gave so easily. That dichotomy of her always fascinated him, that a person who could endure what she had, who could fight as she did, could be so soft.

 

Her arm wrapped around him and pulled him closer as she returned the kiss, moving it from sweet to passionate.

 

Her thighs stayed tight around his hips, her head tilting to deepen their kiss. She tore apart his discipline, the control he lived his life with. She made him feel as if he starved, as if he needed to touch her more than he needed another breath, as if the world could fall around him and so long as her lips stayed on his, he didn't much care.

 

He pulled back, breathless and light-headed, heart pounding.

 

"Wow," she said, letting her head fall forward to rest against his shoulder. "So all it takes to get you in the mood is a little jealousy. I'll flirt with Garrus more often."

 

He wrapped his arms around her to keep her against his chest. "I would not recommend it, Siha. As it turns out, I am a rather jealous man.

 


End file.
